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EA - "We Didn't Make Hits' In 2008"

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  • EA - "We Didn't Make Hits' In 2008"

    Forbes Online has a new article up today with a statement from John Pleasants from Electronic Arts stating that they didn't make hit games in 2008. Check it out:

    Electronic Arts chief operating officer John Pleasants cut to the chase when he was asked about the poor performance in 2008 that sent the gaming giant’s stock down to its lowest point in more than seven years: “The biggest thing was that we didn’t make hits.”

    Pleasants told Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet conference attendees that the company assumed that new franchises like Dead Space and Mirror’s Edge that it released in the latter half of the year were going to be profitable; the problem was, not enough gamers wanted to buy them.

    —Focus on fewer, better games in ‘09: To deliver better, “top-10” titles, Pleasants said Electronic Arts has reduced potential titles by about 20%. It’s an about-face from a strategy that ramped up game releases by about 30% in recent years. “You can lose your way on basic execution when you have too many games,” he said.

    —Cut costs everywhere except marketing: EA is in the process of laying off 1,100 employees, but Pleasants said marketing was the “one line item on our P&L that’s increasing. We’re reducing on other items, but we have titles that we want to have hit.” He said the company looked back at three years of sales and marketing data and found that it wasn’t spending enough on marketing at the right times, or through the right channels.

    —Leveraging the web: “The game-development process has evolved, so the marketing should as well,” Pleasants said. “It’s less about ‘We have an idea, we go away for 24 months and spend $30 million working on a game, then put a little buzz out there and hope it works.’ We need to have a dialogue with the audience, take a longer lead time and make sure we have the right mix of digital and traditional.”

    Some of EA's 2008 releases include: Burnout Paradise, Army of Two, Bloom Box, The EA Sports 2009 lineup, Battlefield: Bad Company, Mercenaries 2: World in Flames, Facebreaker, Spore, Rock Band 2, Warhammer Online, Age of Reckoning, Dead Space, Boogie Superstar, Monopoly, C&C Red Alert 3, Mirrors Edge, Left 4 Dead, Skate it, and NFS: Undercover.

  • #2
    Re: EA - "We Didn't Make Hits' In 2008"

    They produced and published some great games such as Mirror's Edge, Red Alert 3 and Burnout Paradise, however they suffer from either poor creativity or simply re-playability.

    Mirror's Edge could have potentially been a hit, but minimal content and a poor multiplayer aspect meant that it was a bit of a fad.

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    • #3
      Re: EA - "We Didn't Make Hits' In 2008"

      Originally posted by Alex98uk View Post
      They produced and published some great games such as Mirror's Edge, Red Alert 3 and Burnout Paradise, however they suffer from either poor creativity or simply re-playability.

      Mirror's Edge could have potentially been a hit, but minimal content and a poor multiplayer aspect meant that it was a bit of a fad.
      You're right Alex when you look at the games listed above (not all of the 2008 titles are listed) you will see that the majority of them are just games that you kinda play through and that's it, with a few exceptions like Rock Band 2 or Warhammer Online but even those games have some major competitors.

      All the EA Sports games end of selling well for obvious reasons but most of the "EA Games" titles from 08 just don't have a lot of of gusto.

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      • #4
        Re: EA - "We Didn't Make Hits' In 2008"

        Re-playabiliy is soemething that needs to be looked at. Learn from the BF formula, why there are still so many people playing.

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        • #5
          Re: EA - "We Didn't Make Hits' In 2008"

          Originally posted by Manzi View Post
          Cut costs everywhere except marketing: EA is in the process of laying off 1,100 employees, but Pleasants said marketing was the “one line item on our P&L that’s increasing.
          This is one of the mistakes they still haven't fixed. Some of the biggest idiots and hangers-on at EA are in the marketing departments. People with no tangible skills, other than schmoozing and making it appear they're doing something productive - "car salesmen".

          Those departments, in various studios, are in dire need of a good housecleaning.

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          • #6
            Re: EA - "We Didn't Make Hits' In 2008"

            Originally posted by Whiskey View Post
            This is one of the mistakes they still haven't fixed. Some of the biggest idiots and hangers-on at EA are in the marketing departments. People with no tangible skills, other than schmoozing and making it appear they're doing something productive - "car salesmen".

            Those departments, in various studios, are in dire need of a good housecleaning.
            I'll apply. (in about 3 years after graduation with degree in hand)

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            • #7
              Re: EA - "We Didn't Make Hits' In 2008"

              Originally posted by Alex98uk View Post
              They produced and published some great games such as Mirror's Edge, Red Alert 3 and Burnout Paradise, however they suffer from either poor creativity or simply re-playability.

              Mirror's Edge could have potentially been a hit, but minimal content and a poor multiplayer aspect meant that it was a bit of a fad.
              This.



              EA games usually lack depth though.

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              • #8
                Re: EA - "We Didn't Make Hits' In 2008"

                Originally posted by Whiskey View Post
                This is one of the mistakes they still haven't fixed. Some of the biggest idiots and hangers-on at EA are in the marketing departments. People with no tangible skills, other than schmoozing and making it appear they're doing something productive - "car salesmen".

                Those departments, in various studios, are in dire need of a good housecleaning.
                Thats exactly right. When are companies going to learn that all the best marketing in the world is not going to make a great product. Companies all over the US are doing this and have done this in the past and once the marketing hype fades away (like mirrors edge, RA 3, etc...) you are left with a shell.

                With so many games for people to chose from and so many reviews and critics and friends telling friends, it doesnt take long to kill a bad game that was marketed as the latest and greatest thing. It spreads fast and people stop buying quickly.

                EA is making a bad mistake cutting everything but marketing. All that means is we can just about be assured a poorer quality product. The era of AOL is over.

                Crunch
                Twitter: @CptainCrunch
                Battlelog/Origin: CptainCrunch

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                • #9
                  Re: EA - "We Didn't Make Hits' In 2008"

                  I would agree spend less on marketing and put more money and effort into the games themselves. Games in general for a long time have not lived up to the content standards of back in the day. Sure graphics wise they have gotten better but sheer playability has gotten worse and worse.

                  Marketing for the game industry can actaully be fairly cheap if done right anyways. The best marketers you will ever get is from your player base. So you get a few people that are resiliant and good at communication, get on all the sites like TGN and constantly update the player base directly. Then get and collect input from the player base so they feel like they have a hand in making the game. You get organized, constructive conversations going on and by the time the games is about to come out the gaming community will be foaming at the mouth.

                  But to do this you have to be up front about things and if you need an extra month or something let that time be taken so the games are finished products, instead of the half finished games that come out now a days.

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